honestly, for the money you'd be spending, driving a couple hours to test the amps wound't be a bad call.

that being said, I went through a fairly exhaustive search for an amp until I go my Mesa a year ago (I spent a good 6 months playing anything and everything- students can't drop that kind of money easily)

I generally agree with your take on Marshalls. I think that they sound brilliant for some guitarists, but I hate my tone through them. It just sounds like a dry, and slightly thin, version of me.

When I played ENGL's, they sounded very good, but almost to the point of being too precise (of note here, I play EMG's a lot). They were incredibly versatile and powerful amps, but I sometimes felt like my playing maybe didn't come through as much- like the amp was just a little too involved in the process. I felt a little bit detached from the sound coming out of the amplifier. I will agree that the true clean tones were clearer in the ENGL's, but I think the Mesa probably sounded a little more musical. The hi-gain tones in the ENGL's I tried (I tried 5 of them!) were very tight, controlled and a bit crunchier, rather than saturated. Very nice amps, but not my cup of tea.

The Mesa's I played were right for me. I played Roadsters, Roadkings (Didn't need the EL34 switching feature- I don't like them in my power section) and a Mark V. The MV had the best cleans- but only by a bit. where it really dominated was on in-between tones: breakup, crunch, dirty cleans. It just sang. The Dual Rec based amps were very good here, but they weren't quite as amazing. The dual Recs, however, I thought had slightly better distortion. I found that they had a little more presence dialed in, and the contour of the low-end seemed to help make them sound tighter and punchier. Again, none of them were bad, but the dual rec's just seemed a hair better. I bought a Roadster a year and a half ago now and still marvel at the thing every time I turn it on.

The amp that maybe caught me the most off-guard was the Fryette Sig-x. It was amazingly good on cleans and in-between tones, and the high-gain was very nice. It was maybe a hair too crunchy for me (I prefer saturated tones), but it was a damn good amp. Definitely worth a look.

you could also look at:

Diezel- very german, very precise. amazing sounding amps. too precise for me, but they have a very serious following.
Blackstar
Soldano
Rivera
diamond
EVH- seriously. the things are truly excellent. if only they had more channels...

there are a tonne of high-end high-gain amps out there. you really can't afford not to do your research here!!!

deizel was one i looked at i felt there wasn't enough clarity, backstair felt like there wasn't quite enough saturation.soldano came down to price vs features,rivera not sure and diamond i have no dealers anywhere near me, evh i eliminated just due to tone.

deizel was one i looked at i felt there wasn't enough clarity, backstair felt like there wasn't quite enough saturation.soldano came down to price vs features,rivera not sure and diamond i have no dealers anywhere near me, evh i eliminated just due to tone.

have you looked into a Splawn Nitro? they are very different than the rec and the engl, but when i bought mine i liked it over the rec and a Soldano avenger. they are different, but i am kind of an amp wh*** and buy them frequently. just a thought.

if it is just the engl and the dual rec, i would take an engl personally. plus dual recs are a dime a dozen and easy and cheap to find.

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WTLT 2014 GG&A

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cathbard

See what I mean by, "they demonised it"? Tim's attitude is typical of what they did to everybody. The media drove that sort of Disney shit into everybody's brain. Only old farts like me missed it in our formative years.

Diezel D-moll (or was it D-Mon) is out for 1799€. I have a VH4, and must say that regarding awesome tones the D-moll does an awesome job. I don't think any one will by another VH4 for 1300€ MORE.

Really, check it out, it's friggin awesome! I cant think of an amp onder 2300€ that I would take over the D-moll. A mark V, yes, probably. A Hagen/VH4? yes, MAINLY because of the fourth channel. A Victor Smolski? Yes, probably (and also 1799€, best Engl amp out there imo!!). But anything else? Nah, this amp is amazing!!

See what I mean by, "they demonised it"? Tim's attitude is typical of what they did to everybody. The media drove that sort of Disney shit into everybody's brain. Only old farts like me missed it in our formative years.

I've looked at those actually before even the dual rec i felt that either there wasn't much head room and they seem really for lack of a better word boomy on the bottom end unless I'm listening to the wrong recordings.